East Hampton council defers decision on settlement with police chief

Published 12:00 am, Tuesday, June 14, 2011

EAST HAMPTON - Saying they needed more time to study it, the Town Council on Tuesday deferred action a proposed settlement with Police Chief Matthew A. Reimondo.

The council met for nearly an hour behind closed doors to review and discuss the proposed settlement, which Council Chairwoman Melissa H. Engel said had been worked out during a marathon nine-hour session in Hartford on May 31.

No details of the proposed settlement were disclosed following the closed-door session which preceded the council's regular meeting Tuesday. Engel said, however, that she expects to call a special meeting of the council perhaps as early as next week to revive discussion on the proposal.

She explained the council has 30 days from the date the settlement was agreed to in which to ratify the settlement proposal.

"No one wants to rush into this," she said after the council's regular meeting had adjourned. "People said they just needed more time to consider it."

Next Wednesday will mark the first anniversary of the abrupt removal of Reimondo from his post as chief during what then-town manager Jeffrey J. O'Keefe said was a restructuring of the police department.

Reimondo had been a member of the police department for more than a quarter of a century when O'Keefe ousted him.

O'Keefe said he was forced to action to reduce the size of the department and sack Reimondo in anticipation of a possible shortfall in state funding in 2012.

Supporters of the chief countered that O'Keefe had removed Reimondo in an effort to stymie an in investigation that was then in its early stages into allegations harassment involving O'Keefe.

The investigation into complaints made by three women was still in its initial stages when O'Keefe called Reimondo to the manager's office and stripped the then-12-year chief of his badge, his gun and the keys to his car.

The manager's actions - which were upheld a little more than 90 minutes later by a council majority - set off a firestorm of controversy which played out across the summer and into the fall. Eventually, O'Keefe resigned, saying the climate in town had become too poisonous for him to continue.

Reimondo was restored to his post as chief following a citizen's petition drive which led to a referendum that approved rehiring the chief.

Following his removal, Reimondo sued O'Keefe, Engel, Council vice-chairman John W. Tuttle, and Michael Green, whom O'Keefe raised up from sergeant to a newly created post of lieutenant to run the department following Reimondo's removal.

The proposed settlement would cover both that lawsuit as well as individual complaints against the town, O'Keefe, Engel and Tuttle that Reimondo brought to the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.